Saudi Arabia urges citizens to ‘swiftly’ leave Syria

Saudi Arabia urged its citizens on Tuesday to quickly leave Syria to avoid getting caught in a military crackdown on months of popular protests, the Saudi state news agency reported.

“The foreign ministry renewed its warning to citizens currently in Syria to leave swiftly and asked those planning trips there not to travel now due to the unrest witnessed by the Syrian arena,” the agency said.

The appeal came two days after the Arab League decided to impose sanctions on the government of President Bashar Assad over its refusal to allow monitors to enter the country to monitor rights abuses.